Making radeon work again by bringing back Linux-libre 3.4

52 respostas [Última entrada]
jxself
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Joined: 09/13/2010

I wanted to say that I'm resurrecting the Linux-libre 3.4 series in my APT repository. I had previously dropped support for it last October in favor of the newer LTS kernels 3.10 and 3.14 but since it seems these have problems with the radeon module running without blobs, and since some people report their computer crashing with the radeon patch for 4.1 and 4.2, I'm bringing 3.4 back. It's supported for about a year from now, until September 2016.

Information and instructions can be found at https://jxself.org/linux-libre/

GNUser
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Joined: 07/17/2013

Thanks!!
I am one of the unfortunate souls who have a Radeon GPU, and this is really a life saver. I saw your reply to my post on the other thread but couldn't get back to you before I saw this. I will certainly use it!
Keep up the good work!

GNUser
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Joined: 07/17/2013

The PAE thing is unimportant in amd64 right?

jxself
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Joined: 09/13/2010

"The PAE thing is unimportant in amd64 right?"

Yes.

GNUser
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Joined: 07/17/2013

After installing Trisquel 7, and installing the 3.4 kernel, how can I remove the older kernel? I don't want to just make it disappear from the list of options that GRUB gives me, I want to really "uninstall" it from the system.

onpon4
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Joined: 05/30/2012

Just remove the appropriate package. There should be one with a name that starts with "linux-headers" and one that starts with "linux-image". You can find them easily with this command:

aptitude search "~i linux"

lembas
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Joined: 05/13/2010

The graphical way is to open synaptic and select (in the lower left part) status > installed packages and search for "linux-image".

vita_cell
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Joined: 07/19/2015

And "linux-firmware" sometimes.

SuperTramp83

I am a translator!

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Joined: 10/31/2014

easiest way, as lembas pointed out, is to write "linux" in the synaptic search field and there select all the older kernels (but one - it is always advisable to keep at least one in case something goes wrong with the newest one) end remove them.

SuperTramp83

I am a translator!

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Joined: 10/31/2014

Jxself - your work is highly appreciated (as always)!

P.S - btw, we are very pleased to inform you that we have funded the "fsm" - the free software mob. Unanimous decision dictates our first target be the AMD Headquarters.
Jxself, if you want to join, we want you as our Comrade n.1 (that is what usually is defined as "boss" or "CEO" in the business institutions..)

GNUser
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Joined: 07/17/2013

hey, have you tried jxself 3.4 libre kernel? Did you got it to work? I am having some difficulties (read below comments) if you can give any insight would be much appreciated.

Thanks!

SuperTramp83

I am a translator!

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Joined: 10/31/2014

I have no idea why it is not working for you GNUser :(

Try reinstalling Triskello 7 and follow again the instructions on the jxself's website. Also, I remember, I once had issues related to apparmor. The kernel would not install correctly. Then, looking at the logs I noticed it outputted a shitload of apparmor related warnings. So I just removed it, restarted the lappy and reinstalled the kernel and it worked flawlessly..
All jxself's kernels have installed and worked very fine on my setup.
I hope you solve it mate!

GNUser
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Joined: 07/17/2013

Sorry, but I added the key, edited sources.list, but the only linux-libre that appears is 3.13. I can't find the 3.4... Should I do something else? Or maybe the problem is that I am trying to downgrade a package??
How can I solve this?

jbar
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Joined: 01/22/2011

After adding the repo, update the list and install the new kernel

$ sudo apt-get update
$ sudo apt-get install linux-libre64-3.4

GNUser
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Joined: 07/17/2013

Hi.
Thanks, that actually worked! synaptic wasn't showing 3.4 but apt actually did it.

Now the problem I am facing is that even after I installed both kernel and headers, and updated grub, it still isn't showing :(
Grub only shows the old kernel... I even checked here https://trisquel.info/en/wiki/update-linux-libre-kernel

Do I have to edit something in grub.cfg? never edited that file, no idea what to do.

GNUser
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Joined: 07/17/2013

Still not able to boot with the new kernel.
Can someone please help? Thanks!

jbar
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Joined: 01/22/2011

You have to press 'shift' key on boot to access grub menu.

GNUser
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Joined: 07/17/2013

Hello.
Thanks for the reply.
Actually, if I am not mistaken, GRUB always appears when I boot, I have a black screen with

"
GRUB 2.02 (think this is the right number)

Trisquel
Advanced options for GNU/Linux Trisquel"

But that's it.
I tried using the shift key on boot, but it gave me nothing different.

When I installed a new kernel in debian (with dpkg -i) it actually would appear in the GRUB options. Somehow it doesn't now, maybe because it was from the repos??

Any help greatly appreciated!

jbar
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Joined: 01/22/2011

Don't you see your new kernel under "Advanced options for GNU/Linux Trisquel"?

GNUser
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Joined: 07/17/2013

No it asks me for a user name. Dunno what to input

Magic Banana

I am a member!

I am a translator!

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Joined: 07/24/2010

"grub". And the password is in /etc/grub.d/01_PASSWORD.

According to GRUB's documentation, "requiring authentication at the boot loader level would only serve to make it difficult to recover broken systems" in most environments: https://www.gnu.org/software/grub/manual/grub.html#Security

To disable GRUB's password, comment or remove /etc/grub.d/01_PASSWORD and execute 'sudo update-grub'.

GNUser
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Joined: 07/17/2013

Thanks! That allowed me to access the 3.4 kernel.
However I am running it right now and still can't get access to native resolutions. Even though I am running the 3.4 kernel it only gives me 1024 (4:3) as the max resolution.
Maybe I have to remove/install something else, since this system was getting booted with the simplified kernel? Any idea what it could be?

Btw, do you think it's wise to change the GRUB password to be the same as my disk encryption password?

SuperTramp83

I am a translator!

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Joined: 10/31/2014

I never needed to do this but I've read some did.

Try to comment (#) the radeon related entries in these files

/etc/modprobe.d/fbdev-blacklist.conf
/etc/modprobe.d/disable-radeon.conf
/etc/modprobe.d/blacklist-framebuffer.conf

then:

sudo update-initramfs -u

GNUser
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Joined: 07/17/2013

Hi.

Thanks, that did the trick! I am now able to work with 16:9 resolutions!
Graphis controller now appears as "Gallium 0.4 on llvmpipe (LLVM 3.4, 128 bits)"

Only thing thing missing for me is to make this kernel the default. I will not unninstal the other one (Trisquel's default) in case something goes wrong with an update or something like that.

Btw I sent you an email as a response to your previous email.

SuperTramp83

I am a translator!

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Joined: 10/31/2014

nice! Glad that helped!

To make the 3.4 your default kernel you should reboot and see in GRUB the order in the list. It will be something like this:
kernel bla bla
Advanced options
kernel bla bla or whatever (I don't remember)

You will select "Advanced options" and then you will find the list of all the kernelzz. You need to remember the position of the libre 3.4 and have to consider that the list is numbered starting by 0 (0,1,2,3 etc)

So if your libre 3.4 is say the fifth on the list you remember the number 4.

Boot and edit /etc/default/grub

The very first entry is GRUB_DEFAULT=0
You want to make it into -> GRUB_DEFAULT="1>4"

You can also set GRUB_TIMEOUT to 0 if you want grub not to appear at all on boot and save yourself 5 seconds of time X_X

cheers!

p.s_: will respond to your mail in a few hours. Need to do something first :)

pps - don't forget to sudo update-grub

GNUser
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Joined: 07/17/2013

can't test it right now, but will give that a try tomorrow. THANKS! :)

Btw, when you do reply to my email, please give me more information on BitMask. Thanks in advance!

andermetalsh
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Joined: 01/04/2013

That driver didn't need propietary firmware while using UMS instead of KMS, no?

https://wiki.freedesktop.org/xorg/RadeonFeatureUMS/

onpon4
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Joined: 05/30/2012

It was able to work, but not with hardware acceleration.

andermetalsh
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Joined: 01/04/2013

Maybe it needs a legacy xorg/DRI driver?

andermetalsh
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Joined: 01/04/2013

In /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/20-radeon.conf

Section "Device"
Identifier "Radeon"
Driver "radeon"
Option AccelMethod "UXA" #try with EXA or XAA instead of UXA if that doesn't work
EndSection

GNUser
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Joined: 07/17/2013

That change is supposed to give hardware acceleration without proprietary pieces? No blobs? Thought it couldn't be done.

lembas
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Joined: 05/13/2010

Unfortunately no. It's 2D acceleration.

GNUser
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Joined: 07/17/2013

I see.
HOWEVER... should I do what was suggested in the comment above? Will my graphics work better (at least in 2D), than if I just use the standard, default Trisquel installation configs?
Because even if it is just 2D, it's still good to have my hardware working at the best possible/libre state.

GNUser
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Joined: 07/17/2013

Could anyone confirm if the above suggestion is recommended in Trisquel or not?
How can one know for sure if 2D acceleration is active or not?

lembas
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Joined: 05/13/2010

If you see any graphics on screen then you have 2d. And some 2d acceleration method is being used. Which one works best depends on what card you have. (and what kernel and what xserver versions you have, possibly)

The only way to find out is to try. Unless there is a massive difference you have to figure out a way to measure the performance. On the other hand then it doesn't really matter.

onpon4
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Joined: 05/30/2012

There's a such thing as 2-D hardware acceleration, and not having it doesn't mean you can't see graphics at all. It just means it's rendered in a less efficient way. If anything, 2-D hardware acceleration being missing is likely to be so unnoticeable that it's pretty much impossible to tell from observation whether your system supports it. It's such a marginal benefit in most cases that tutorials for Pygame actually actively recommend that you don't bother taking advantage of it.

lembas
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Joined: 05/13/2010

That probably is so but if you look at the name of the preference in question, you see it's acceleration method, not whether to use acceleration.

GNUser
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Joined: 07/17/2013

Thank you both lembas and onpon4.

vita_cell
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Joined: 07/19/2015

No fix for me, 3.13, 3.4, 4.2, nothing make change, 4.2 works fine, no crash, but work the same way as 3.4.

With 3.4 I have option to 800x600, put the same way, nothing happens.

My gpu is HD 2400.

It is normal watch 360p or 720p movie fully lagged?

I know that this laptop works very well with Mint distribution, but I want to try to run Trisquel on it without paiful lag and resolution.

lembas
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Joined: 05/13/2010

Have you removed radeon from the blacklist?

GNUser
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Joined: 07/17/2013

Also in my case I think I had to run
sudo update-initramfs -u -K all
in order to apply it to all kernels.

vita_cell
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Joined: 07/19/2015

Not, I did not. How to do that right way?

lembas
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Joined: 05/13/2010
GNUsercn
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Joined: 10/13/2015

BTW, in this thread discussion, do you guys mean all types of the Radeon video cards? (both AMD, NVIDIA and Intel)

Gracias

Calinou
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Joined: 03/08/2014

What do you mean? Only AMD makes graphic adapters called Radeon. However, they can either be integrated (AMD APU) or dedicated (AMD GPU). However, both are called Radeon.

GNUsercn
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Joined: 10/13/2015

But I saw a type of Radeon video card named as " Intel Radeon GMA HD 4000" or something... on THinkpad S3 serial...

onpon4
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Joined: 05/30/2012

You are clearly confused. Radeon, Intel GMA, and Intel HD are three completely different series of GPUs. Radeon is from AMD, and the other two are from Intel.

vita_cell
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Joined: 07/19/2015

Yes, three different GPU series.

Chris

I am a member!

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Joined: 04/23/2011

It could be a typo-error somebody made. If they went and used another model as a template for instance they might have accidentally only selected part of the text to replace and thats how come you saw this.

vita_cell
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Joined: 07/19/2015

Only AMD makes a trash hardware, CPUs and GPUs. Everything garbage, with blobs or without.

nevermoreraven
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Joined: 10/15/2014

Does this apply to radeon ati express 200m gpu?